Phuket Plans To Run Tsunami Warning And Evacuation Drill On June 17th In Bang Tao Bay

[NBT TV Phuket]

The Phuket authority is arranging a tsunami warning and evacuation drill on June 16-17th at BangTao Bay in Cherng Talay area of Thalang district. The Phuket Vice Governor Tri Akaradecha said the exercise aims at enhancing skills of officers in commanding, controlling and handling any disasters and mitigation operations. It also expects to prepare local residents to cope with any possible earthquakes. The June 16th session will comprise theory and table top exercises with a command centre designated at Laguna Beach Resort. On June 17th a simulation situation of tsunami warning and evacuation drill is scheduled to take place during 9 to 12pm. The session will focus on evacuating people to a designated safe ground as well as assist people who were stuck in vulnerable locations. The exercise is a preparation for the comprehensive tsunami evacuation exercise for the 6 Andaman coastal provinces on July 7th 2008. That drill will be televised live by our channel NBT

Andaman News NBT (VHF dial) at 8.30am & local Cable TV channel 1 + maybe FM90.5 Radio Thailand 6pm, broadcast to Phang Nga, Krabi & Phuket provinces, & possibly FM108 Mazz Radio 7.30pm in Phuket, Tuesday 10 June 2008 & http://thainews.prd.go.th/newsenglish/ Contact [email protected]

[alanmorison]

More than three years after the tsunami, it is not possible for any resident or visitor to Phuket or any other coastal province to feel as though they are adequately protected.

Only two Andaman resorts have signed up so far to provide the comprehensive but costly warning service on offer from the National Disaster Warning Centre.

The beach warning tower system that stretches along the coast is imperfect but probably adequate, combined with television and radio, during daylight hours.

But the question that needs to be asked repeatedly is this: what happens if a second tsunami comes at 3am, everybody is asleep, and the radios and television sets have been switched off for hours?

The most appropriate lesson comes from Hawaii, where half a century ago one tsunami was followed by a second, 14 years later.

Dr Smith of the NDWC believes the onus should be on all Andaman resorts to be able to tell tourists that they are adequately protected by a relatively sound 24-hour tsunami warning system.

-- Full report at www.phuketwan.com

[PhilHarries]

More than three years after the tsunami, it is not possible for any resident or visitor to Phuket or any other coastal province to feel as though they are adequately protected.

It is very difficult to provide "adequate" protection for the general public. You can put up all the warning and information posters you like but you can't force people to read them. How many of us check the fire exit route and doors when we check into a hotel? How many of us pay attention to the safety demonstration on any flight? But I agree that, given the Thai authorities lackadaisacal (sp?) approach to public safety, it is difficult for anyone who thinks about such things to feel assured.

But the question that needs to be asked repeatedly is this: what happens if a second tsunami comes at 3am, everybody is asleep, and the radios and television sets have been switched off for hours?

That is the thing with natural disasters, they always happen at the most inconvenient of times and seldom give any warning. What happens if the next tsunami occurs in 50 years time when virtually nobody remembers the last one and nobody knows what that flashing red light and siren on a pole is for?

[alanmorison]

That is the thing with natural disasters, they always happen at the most inconvenient of times and seldom give any warning. What happens if the next tsunami occurs in 50 years time when virtually nobody remembers the last one and nobody knows what that flashing red light and siren on a pole is for?

Actually the 2004 tsunami gave plenty of warning. For a start, it was measured as an undersea earthquake of exceptional magnitude. It's just that nobody warned the people of the Indian Ocean rim, although there was plenty of time to do so. The fact that the wave hit the Andaman Coast on a Sunday morning was convenient to the extent that there was no school. And in daylight, more people were up and about and able to escape. I am more concerned about a potential tsunami tomorrow and the next day rather than in 50 years. You should be, too.

[NBT TV Phuket]

Please inform fellow residents & tourists:

The Thai government will conduct a full-scale Tsunami Warning and Evacuation Exercise in the 6 Andaman coastal provinces of Southern Thailand namely Phuket, Phang-Nga, Krabi, Ranong, Trang and Satun on Monday July 7th, 2008 between 9.30 - 10.30 am. Warning towers’ alarms will go off in all participating areas. Local residents and tourists are invited to join in the exercise. The exercise will be televised by NBT live from Saphan Hin area in Phuket City .

You can see more details and miniVDOs of latest news stories on this drill at:

MiniVDO: Special - Ready for Tsunami Drill Monday 7 July 2008

http://thainews.prd.go.th/newsenglish/prev...php?news_id=372

MiniVDO: Interview Bhuritt Maswongsa, Vice President, Phuket Tourist Association on Tsunami warnings & drill for 7 July

incl. comments on hotels not connecting their fire alarms to NDWC towers

http://thainews.prd.go.th/newsenglish/prev...php?news_id=362

MiniVDO: Preparations for Tsunami evacuation drill on Phuket’s beaches are seen while local beach operators & tourists welcome the tests.

http://thainews.prd.go.th/newsenglish/prev...php?news_id=364

MiniVDO: The Phuket Governor stresses that the public and tourists must be informed of the Tsunami Evacuation exercise to take place on the shoreline of Thailand’s six Andaman provinces on July 7th.

http://thainews.prd.go.th/newsenglish/prev...php?news_id=342

MiniVDO: Phuket & tourists get prepared for the Tsunami warning and Evacuation Drill to take place on July 7th in all six Andaman Coastal provinces.

http://thainews.prd.go.th/newsenglish/prev...php?news_id=322

[alanmorison]

This year, Phuketwan has been told, the 79 towers have been checked in advance. No doubt the appearance will be given on Monday that everything is in readiness should a second tsunami roll in sometime soon.

We would like to know how many of the 79 towers were found to be faulty when they were checked in readiness for Monday's performance.

That answer would surely tell us whether the daytime warning system works all year long, not just on the one day each year when the system is ''tested'' for national televison.

--More questions at www.phuketwan.com

[NBT TV Phuket]

MiniVDO on

<p> After informing people in advance about the full scale Tsunami Warning and Evacuation drill in 79 locations in 6 Andaman coastal provinces where the warning towers are installed, the Thai government on Monday July 7th conducted the exercise. They covered the provinces of Phuket, Phang-Nga, Krabi, Ranong, Trang and Satun.

In Phuket, participants involved included related officials, medical staff, communications, local governments, residents, and tourists, adults and children. It aimed at testing out the personnel, and equipment plus local residents’ and tourists’ awareness for handling future disasters in prevention of any loss of lives.

The activity simulated an earthquake of 8.5 on the Richter scale and the National Disaster Warning Centre (NDWC) issued warnings via towers in all 79 locations. The towers are linked with the NDWC in NonthaBuri province, near Bangkok.

Once the warning tower signaled the alarms for a pretend Tsunami at around 9.45am, the exercise began. At Saphan Hin in Phuket city, after the siren, people and students who were in fact training for sports events, started to evacuate inland along the designated routes heading to higher and safer ground.

<p> At the tourist beach of Patong in Phuket, some residents and tourists joined in the drill relocating themselves to safe ground after hearing the warning siren. They ran along the designated route of Soi Bang La onto Soi Sansabai lane which is designated as higher ground and an evacuation area.

The full-scale drill was run with search and rescue volunteers and medical teams to handle people who were supposedly injured from the tsunami or evacuation. They listened to the incident commander so that management would run as planned. The NDWC announced the end of the situation at around 10.20am.

After the drill the Deputy Prime Minister Suwit Khunkitti who witnessed the mock situation at Saphan Hin, in his capacity as chairman of the national committee on disaster warning systems, thanked local authorities, governments and all the public, and volunteers who contributed to the comprehensive exercise and voiced his confidence in the preparedness of locals in the case of any future natural disaster:

Similar natural disaster drills are expected to take place in northern Thailand, in preparation for potential earthquakes in that region.

Meanwhile Mr Suwit indicated that in future the warning towers will play the national anthem at 08.00 and 18.00 hours everyday to ensure that the systems are operating well.

<p> After the drill we spoke to 3 sets of tourists in Patong, firstly to Australians who joined in the run up Soi Bangla to Soi Sansabai in the middle of town, and who just by chance were the same tourists we spoke to last week on the beach before the drill: According to them, the tower messages were not clear even though they were just 100 metres away:

Then we spoke to another Australian tourist who was staying at Sunset Beach Resort, in Kalim, in the north part of Patong, where another warning siren is installed right on top of the hotel. It is maintained by the Patong Municipality and according to the tourist it went off loud and clear at the same time as other towers on Monday morning:

Finally we spoke to a Dutch family of guests at Seaview hotel on the Beach road at the south end of Patong, where the Municipality also installed a warning siren on top of the hotel. However according to the tourist, the sound was not so clear as expected:

Special Report for Andaman News NBT (VHF dial) + maybe FM90.5 Radio Thailand at 8.30am & perhaps relays/repeats on local Cable TV channel 1, broadcast to Phang Nga, Krabi & Phuket provinces, & possibly FM108 Mazz Radio 7.30pm in Phuket, Wednesday 9 July 2008 & http://thainews.prd.go.th/newsenglish/ Contact [email protected]